In general, a single board fiber includes a core having a diameter of about 8 μm, a cladding part having an outer diameter of 125 μm, and a fiber coating part having an outer diameter of 250 μm, which protects the circumference of the cladding part. Further, the single board fiber and an outer coating part, which protects the single board fiber and has an outer diameter of 900 μm, constitute a single optical cable.
For fiber splicing of such an optical cable, the cladding part is exposed by removing a part of the outer coating part and then removing a part of the fiber coating part.
There are various fiber splicing methods, including a mechanical splicing method using a fiber optic mechanical splicer, which enables a fiber splicing without an apparatus requiring a separate power source on the working spot.
The fiber optic mechanical splicer is a device for fiber splicing connection, wherein two optical fibers are inserted in the fiber optic mechanical splicer, centers of the cores of the two optical fibers are aligned to each other, and the two optical fibers are then connected. In the conventional fiber optic mechanical splicer, the labor of fiber splicing connection may require a part made of a special material for constructing V-grooves for seating fibers therein and securing a clamping function providing a force necessary for maintenance of the alignment between fibers after the connection, or require a high-priced special tool since it is difficult for a user to optionally implement a function. As a result, this requirement may cause the production cost of the fiber optic mechanical splicer to increase.
Further, a method of interconnecting optical cables through mechanical compression thereof employs formation of a V-groove and the compression. However, it is very difficult to actually form a V-groove on plastic or metal.
Methods of forming a V-groove include various methods including a method of forming a V-groove by directly cutting out a panel made of plastic, ceramic, etc., a method of forming a V-groove by using a mold, etc. However, it is common and usually used that a V-groove is formed with an angle of 60 to 70 degrees and fibers are made to protrude 30 um˜40 um from the end of the V-groove. However, it is very difficult to implement this method. That is, it is difficult to exactly achieve the angle and height, and an error of about 10 um may actually occur due to various reasons.